Trying the Impossible

I enjoy watching the Winter Olympics, but I must say that I was a little bit disappointed with the couples figure skaters this year. It seemed that there were no perfect performances. In fact, in most of the programs even my untrained eye could spot major mistakes. Two out of the three medal winners actually fell during their performances. And they were the best of the group.

I understand that the reason there are so many mistakes during these games is that every competitor is trying to outperform everyone else. They push themselves like never before, figuring that outdoing themselves is the only way to win. Besides, these performances are not meant to be crowd-pleasers—they’re meant to be judge-pleasers. Consequently, we get skaters who try to do the impossible and end up with exquisite moments mingled with lousy moments all in a single routine.

A few times in history the risk has paid off and a team has managed to magically exceed everyone’s expectations. I suppose it’s this possibility that keeps the competitors going for the risk against a more sensible routine. But I will have to admit that if there was a possibility that I might pull off something spectacular, and I am certainly one who enjoys a good challenge, I would go for it too. There will be plenty of opportunities for these talented performers to show-off to the world of non-skaters using less difficult moves, but in front of critical judging, they may as well try to achieve the impossible on that slim chance that they will succeed.